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Monday, November 24, 2014

Are Reviews Important?

by Robert Lapointe - CEO at Tailbase

If you are asking yourself whetherreviews
are important to your business, the answer is without doubt a resoundingYES!

Since I travel a great deal,websites like "Trip Advisor" and others have had a significant
impact on which hotel I select for a business trip or
holidays. The same is true when I want to purchase something. I cannot tell you
how much reading a negative review has
caused me to select a different product.

When it comes to retail, consumers appreciate validating
their potential purchase by reading what others have
said about the product. That even includes
getting the assurances ( what I call the warm and fuzzies) about the retailer
from which they are contemplating making that important purchase.

Statistics

In a recent survey, an overwhelming 90% of respondents
recalled that reading positive online reviews influenced their buying
decisions, while 86% said that their buying decisions were influenced by negative
reviews. Retailers now have the power to create a form to attract positive
reviews online while addressing any negative ones that may surface. Retailers
should focus their energy on taking control of their online reviews.

As a retailer, when
selecting a platform for your web site, make sure you facilitate the process for
your customers to make reviews, and that you do not limit the review section the product itself. Allow
for the purchase experience to be reviewed, the delivery, the install ( if
selected) so you can get an accurate measurement of your ranking.

It is quite obvious that Google is beginning to put more
importance on the use of reviews. It is all about trying to narrow that gap
between the social web and ecommerce, where sales themselves are becoming more
and more social.

External reviews:They
are important, and many small companies encourage their customers to hop onto
sites like Yelp or Reseller Ratings for their opinion on the service/product.
This is a good idea for small businesses, as customers are more likely to
comment when they have positive experiences, unlike many large corporations
that find themselves with reviews only when the customer is unhappy.

Fake reviews:Some people reading this are already tempted to begin what many companies do,
which is purchase fake reviews. This is a mistake, since Google is working
overtime to quell this phenomenon, as are the third party sites that reviews are
hosted on.

Conclusion

What do you see when you put your company's name into
Google? What you see is what your customer sees. You should address this and
see whether or not you have a positive or negative impact on your customers. Reviews are a big deal on Google now, and user experience
data is crucial for the average ecommerce site. There is a right way and a
wrong way to use this tool, and you should prevent making a
misstep. Luckily, the ranking benefits far outweigh the risks.